Less Stage 2 Sleep Found in Fibromyalgia Patients/Correlates With Pain

Sleep researchers at three universities conclude that measurement of time in stage 2 sleep may be predictive of pain level in Fibromyalgia.

We knew sleep disorders were a huge part of Fibromyalgia and now research has pinpointed why that is. For many of us, if we could just get a good night’s sleep on a regular basis we would not have the pain and other miserable symptoms we have, or at least they wouldn’t be as bad.

Here is the information from ProHealth on less stage 2 sleep in FM patients:

[Note: In Stage 1 sleep the brain transitions from alpha waves (waking) to theta waves (drowsy) and conscious awareness lowers. During Stage 2 or light sleep, muscular tone/activity lowers and conscious awareness disappears. It normally accounts for 45% to 55% of total sleep and is followed by stage 3 slow-wave sleep and stage 4 deepest slow wave sleep.]

Objective: To determine whether previously described sleep stage dynamics, reflecting the mean duration of specific sleep stages, may have clinical utility in a sample of patients with Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and controls.

Methods: Women with FMS (n=15, screened to exclude other sleep disorders) and age-matched women in good health (n=15) were studied with nocturnal polysomnography, multiple sleep latency tests, 2-week pain diaries, and a measure of current pain intensity.

Results: The FMS subjects, in comparison to controls, did not show differences in several common polysomnographic measures, except for increased numbers of stage shifts (126+/-27 vs. 107+/-22, p=.042).

Mean durations for episodes of total sleep, stage 1 sleep, stage 3/4 sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep failed to distinguish FMS and control subjects (Wilcoxon rank sum tests, p>.10 for each), but those for stage 2 sleep were shorter in the FMS subjects (p=.006), possibly because transitions to stage 3/4 sleep occurred more quickly (p=.036).